This invention relates to book holders, and in particular, to a book holder that holds bulk pages of a book separately from pages being read and turned with ease, speed and low fatigue level during reading sessions in addition to providing versatility of use and folding for carriage.
Holders of books for reading have been devised and modified prolifically since printing presses made books available. All have had utility that has aided reading of books. None have had page-turning convenience, positioning universality, fold-up structure and on-board lighting in the manner taught by this invention. Pertinent examples of different book-holding devices include the following:
U.S. Pat. No. 11,224, issued to Hidden on Jul. 4, 1854, taught a book-reading and book-writing stand quite similar to a drafting table on a pivotal arm. It also had a light holder on a flexible arm for holding early wick-type lamps for reading and writing books. U.S. Pat. No. 2,156,225, issued to O'Meara on Apr. 25, 1939, described a reading stand with page-holding leaf springs that also held entire sides of books. U.S. Pat. No. 2,807,908, issued to Lykes on Oct. 1, 1957, taught a slight modification of the Hidden device with a strap for holding books in an inverted attitude for reading in bed. U.S. Pat. No. 3,586,847, issued to Nahmias on Jun. 22, 1971, taught a spring-biased U-holder on each of two covers with which a book was held with variable angles between opposite covers. Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 4,465,255, issued to Hill on Aug. 14, 1984, taught a book holder supported by a base member positioned between a mattress and a spring of a bed and having means for supporting a book in an inverted attitude. A large number of other patents in this field teach other forms of book holders that are more different yet from this invention. Regardless of there being many known forms of book holders, none other than a simple pulpit-like stand with only limited versatility have provided sufficient utility to become widely used.